Rotary engine.



3. FOURNIER. ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.4,1908.

Patented Sept. 22,- 1908.

.3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I Witness I I V I attain-M cm, wAsHmamN, o. c,

Witnesses E. FOURNIER.

30mm ENGINE.

APPIQIOATI'ON FILED APE. 4,1908.

Patented Sept. 22, 1908.

a SHEETS-SHEET z L HHWI awue/wboz Edward Four/222}:

a ia- E. FOURNIER.

ROTARY ENGINE. APPLIOATIOR FILED APR. 4,1908.

Patented S ept.22,1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3 Eda 0rd Eur/210i:

*MF uaPms Faxes co-. H'Asnmoron, n. r

close one end thereof, said face plate EDWARD FOURNIER, OF MINNEAPOLIS,MINNESOTA.

ROTARY, ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 22, 1908.

Application filed April 4, 1908. Serial N 0. 425,291.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD FOURNIER, a citizenof the United States ofAmerica, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented new and useful Improvements in Rotary Engines,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to rotary engines, and one of the principalobjects of the same is to provide a slm le reversible rotary engine offew parts whic cannot readily get out of order.

Another object of the invention is to provide im roved means for ackingthe cylinder wa s against which the rotating piston bears.

These and other objects may be attained by means of the constructionillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 cylinder with the face plate removed therefrom, the'piston andpacking removed. Fi 2 is a vertical section taken through the cyi inderand through the rotating piston. Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken atright angles to Fig. 2, showing. one of the piston walls broken away.Fig. 4 is adetail perspective view of the packing spider for the innercylinder wall and face late. I Referring to the drawings for a morespecific description of m invention, the numeral 1 desi nates the cyinder mounted upon a suitab e base 2. This cylinder is hollow and isprovided with a suitable face plate 3 t0 elng connected to the cylinderby means of screws or la bolts 4. Formed in the inner wall of thecyiinder is a recess comprising a circular portion 5 and radial branches6 and 7. In the face plate 3 a similar recess is formed. Placed withinthis recess is the packing spider shown in Fig. 4 and consisting of aring 8 and radial arms 9 and 10. It is to be noted that the arms 9 arecomparatively close together and that the arm 10 is some distance fromthe other arms or branches. The purpose of this structure is that thearms 9 will cover the area between the two exhausts and the two intakeports, where the pressure of the steam is greatest, while the arm 10merely supports and balances the remaining portions of the spider.

In order to hold the packing s ider closely against the sides of thepiston, oles 11 extend through the wall of the cylinder and is a sideelevation looking into the through the face plate 3, and seatedin theseholes are spiral springs 12 which bear against the arms of the spider,and set screws 13 in serted in the outer portions of said holes are usedto adjust the tension of the springs 12 and to equalize the bearing atall points against the arms 9 and 10. Formed at the top of the cylinderare the reversely projecting intake ports 14 and oppositely disposedexhaust ports 15-.

Mounted in the cylinder 1 is a piston having a hub 16 s lined to a shaft17, said shaft being mounte to rotate on ball bearings 18.

he piston is provided with a series of blades or vanes 19 extendingradially from the hub 16 and providing steam pockets 20 between saidblades. At the outer ends of the blades 19 spring-pressed packing strips21 are provided, said stri s being mounted in recesses in the outer emf;of the blades 19 and backed up by means of springs 22, as shown moreparticularly in Figs. 2 and 3.

The operation ofmy rotary engine may be briefly described as follows:The line of steam entering the intake port 14 shown in section in Fig. 2will by impact force the blades or vanes 19 around within the cylinder,and each pocket 20 will exhaust through the exhaust port 15 shown insection in said view. When it is required to reverse the engine, theother intake and exhaust are utilized in an obvious manner. When thepiston has been rotated by cranking sufficiently to give it an impetusthe impact of the steam against the blades will be sufficient to rotatethe piston.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that a rotary engine made inaccordance with my invention is exceedingly simple in construction,iscapable of reversal, is composed of few parts which cannot readily getout of order, While the packing spider provides a permanent packingwhich will not require frequent renewals.

Having thus described the invention, what isclaimed as new, is

1. A rotary engine comprising a cylinder and a face plate therefor, theinner walls of said cylinder and face plate being recessed in the formof a central ring and radial branches, a packing spider provided with aring and radial arms conforming to the contour of said recesses'andfitted therein, said spider being pressed inwardly by means of sprlngs,and a piston comprising a hub and radial blades or vanes. I

2. In a rotary engine, a cylinder provided said face plate, said packingspider comprising a ring and radial arms, said arms extending to theexhaust ports and including the intake ports.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

EDWARD FOURNIER.

with a face plate, packing spiders fitted in re- 1 cesses in saidcylinder and face plate, a piston mounted on a shaft, said pistonprovided with radial blades or vanes, spring mounted 5 packing strips,and inlet and exhaust ports formed in said cylinder. i 3. A rotaryengine comprising a cylinder 1 having inlet and exhaust ports, a packingWitnesses: spider fitted into the Walls of the cylinder, a G. C. LITTS,10 face plate, and a packing spider fitted in the H. I. (300011.

